fara tucker, lcsw
  • Home
  • counseling and therapy
  • continuing education for massage therapists
    • professional services for massage therapists
  • reflections
​

loosening the knot

3/9/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Sometimes life can cause us to feel tangled up inside.

When we've got a difficult decision to make; when we're in a challenging situation that we can't figure our way out of; when we're overwhelmed with life; when we're in a conflict with someone we love.

This tangle can be uncomfortable at best, painful at worst. 


In these situations, our instinct may be to try to work really hard trying to untangle the knot.

Read More
0 Comments

the swirl: embracing the messy, beautiful complexity of our lives

10/6/2018

4 Comments

 
Picture
​One day it occurred to me that I no longer knew how to answer when people asked, "how are you?"

I don't know when it happened exactly. All I know is that this ordinary, everyday question was quite literally stopping me in my tracks.

A friend or coworker who I hadn’t seen in a while would enthusiastically ask, “how are you?!” and I would become speechless (which if you know me, you know that's really saying something).


I would pause waiting for the right words to appear.

Read More
4 Comments

how do you eat an elephant?

1/1/2018

2 Comments

 
Picture
When I first started running, it was brutal.

Let's be honest, it still is. I am perpetually falling out of this habit. Every time I return after a long break, it feels almost as hard as it did when I started. 

I never wanted to be a runner. I didn't understand why people would voluntarily subject themselves to this particular brand of torture.

Then one day, for reasons I don't fully understand, I wanted to try. 

Read More
2 Comments

the intimacy of goodbye: embracing the vulnerability of endings

12/26/2016

2 Comments

 
“Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love.”  -George Eliot
Recently I had to say goodbye.
Picture
​Like many goodbyes, this one was made up of small and big goodbyes all tangled up into and born out of a single event.  

I left my job as Dean of Students at East West College after six years.

As a social-worker-therapist-type-person, you might assume that I am comfortable "sitting with" painful, vulnerable and complex feelings.  

If you assume this about me, you would be correct, and...I am still a human being!

Saying goodbye after six years, much less saying goodbye over and over again to many people, multiples times, over weeks and months was really tough.

It was uncomfortable and exhausting and hard, and it was a profoundly rich and sacred opportunity.  

At some point in the midst of all of this, I had a thought...

Read More
2 Comments

    fara tucker, lcsw

    therapist~consultant~teacher in Portland, Oregon

    compassionate, mindfulness-based services for helpers, healers, and pleasers

    individual counseling 
    and
    professional consultation & continuing education for massage therapists

    Archives

    August 2020
    November 2019
    August 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016

    Categories

    All
    Acceptance
    Anxiety
    Assertive
    Boundaries
    Connection
    Gratitude
    Helping Professionals
    Impermanence
    Instagram
    Judgement
    Mindfulness
    People Pleasing
    Perfectionism
    Procrastination
    Risk Taking
    Savoring The Good
    Self-compassion
    Self-criticism
    Transitions
    Vulnerability
    Zumba

    RSS Feed

Picture
fara tucker, lcsw
Call me

    Join my Mailing list 

Submit

​​words and images © 2015, fara tucker. all rights reserved.
  • Home
  • counseling and therapy
  • continuing education for massage therapists
    • professional services for massage therapists
  • reflections